Lord Sumption is a former chief justice of the UK Supreme Court. He broke ground when he was appointed to that role in 2012, being the first appointment at the top of the judiciary to be made directly from the ranks of the practising Bar.

As a barrister he carved out a highly successful career, with wide-ranging expertise spanning commercial law, constitutional law and human rights - and appearing in many complex and prominent cases.

On retiring from the Supreme Court in 2018, he became a prominent public commentator and writer, expressing often controversial views, such as on the handling of the Covid 19 pandemic. In 2019 he delivered The Reith lectures for the BBC on the theme of “Law and the Decline of Politics,” on the relationship between law and democracy.

The interview is conducted by Frances Gibb, journalist and former legal editor of The Times, for a landmark podcast series, The Judges: Power, Politics and the People, hosted by The University of Law. The series features the most senior former judges in England and Wales of the last three decades – those who have reached the apex of the justice system. It asks: who are the men and occasionally women who have reached the pivotal positions at the top of the judiciary? What do they feel about their time in office - their key decisions and dealing with ministers?

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:02 Judges speaking out
00:06:32 Gina Miller case / prorogation of Parliament
00:12:18 Early life & becoming a lawyer
00:14:19 Becoming a judge
00:19:11 Being a Supreme Court Justice
00:23:49 Politics of the Supreme Court
00:28:43 Balance of power - judges vs politicians
00:31:38 Ministers’ attitude to the rule of law
00:34:37 Ongoing relationship with ECHR
00:37:57 Rwanda
00:38:43 Media criticism of judges
00:42:06 Diversity in the judiciary
00:45:49 Threats to liberal western democracies